I just passed my tests (tech and general) and am waiting for my call sign. I was playing last night with my rt60, and had dialed in most local repeaters, so I was just manually scrolling through the repeaters, and I hit on a clear transmission, some people were running a net (?) that asked a bunch of questions about computers, then, the fascinating part, the net operator was reading call signs and names, and people all over the country would check in and give their answer combinations, like "I will take alpha, alpha, bravo, alpha, Charlie", obviously their guesses to the correct answers.
I'm in SoCal, and am using a 5 watt hand held, so it surprised me when a guy from Ohio, another from Kansas, the Bay Area, and even Canada chimed in like they were next door.
So it occurred to me, I don't know squat about what repeaters REALLY DO. I get that they generally listen for a specific tone, and when they hear it, they receive a transmission on one frequency, and instantly repeat that transmission on another, given freq. I thought that was a local deal for hand held radios to get a bit of range.
Ok, so how is someone two thousand miles away hearing that transmission? Is it a string of repeaters all shaking hands and doing this, or is the guy in Canada listening to my local repeater? And how is he talking to this repeater from Canada, which I guess is the same question.
This was a two meter repeater, if that matters.
Please be gentle, I don't even have an Elmer yet.
Thanks.